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Paris, the "city of light," is a major hotspot for the rich and famous, ambitious and talented, and has been for centuries. It seems that even the members of North Korea's ruling dynasty ― the ostensibly communist/national Kim family – have not been able to resist the temptations of this great city.
Indeed, many members of the Kim family have spent a significant part of their lives outside of their country, or are indeed living outside of the country right now. Paris was frequently one of the major places to which they have gravitated when on sojourn overseas.
It is not known whether the current chief Kim has ever visited Paris. But given the fact that he spent some years at school in Switzerland, it seems likely that he visited the French capital at least once. This looks all the more plausible when we take into account that some evidence that has recently come to light suggests that Kim Jong-un is rather fond of overseas travel. For example, it is now known that he visited India in 2007.
We should also remember that Kim's mother, the beautiful Ko Yong-hee, used to fly to Paris and other major European destinations back in the 1990s. Paris was also the place where she died back in 2004 while undergoing treatment of cancer.
Ko was not the only member of the Kim family to have died in this great city. In 2006, Chang Kum-song, the daughter of Jang Seong-thaek and Kim Kyong-hee (Kim Jong-il's sister), committed suicide in the French capital ― as with many other members of the Kim family, she was there on a shopping trip.
The precise circumstances that surrounded her suicide are not known, though it is rumoured to have resulted from an unhappy love affair. At any rate, it appears that the sudden death of Chang Kum-song, the only child in the family, became the first in the chain of family tragedies. Kim Kyong-hee was reportedly devastated by the death of her daughter and took to drinking heavily. Soon afterwards Jang Seong-thaek, briefly the second man in the power hierarchy, was arrested and executed.
Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-il's eldest son, is also no stranger to the allure of the French capital. Since the late 1990s, he has lived in Macao, but this did not stop him from travelling extensively, most frequently to Japan, but also to Europe. Following his interception by Japanese border control in 2001, his trips to Japan had to be stopped ― he travelled on a fake passport (Dominican, to be precise) and this officially was the source of the trouble. However, his trips to Europe continued, and the corpulent elder Kim has often been seen in the lobbies of expensive Parisian hotels.
It has been some time since the last confirmed sighting of Kim Jong Nam in Paris, but it seems likely that his Parisian excursions will continue. The reason is simple enough: his son Kim Han-sol is currently studying in Paris. He is a young man with dyed hair, who once described himself as an anti-communist socialist, and is currently attending the University of Paris. He also reportedly enjoys the protection of the French police.
The latter is perhaps a wise precaution because of the rather tense relations between the sons of Kim Jong Il, and also due the existence of many people who have reason to be rather passionate about the rulers of North Korea (though Kim Han Sol may be the only member of the Kim family to have explicitly distanced himself from the ruling family's policies).
Another member of the Kim family who is a frequent flier to the French and other European capitals is Kim Pyong-il, the half-brother of Kim Jong Il. Once Kim Jong-il was chosen as his father's successor, his half-brothers were sent to comfortable exile as diplomats, indefinitely stationed overseas. As a result, Kim Pyong-il has spent the last three decades moving from one European capital to another. Having spent a long time in Poland, he is now ambassador to the Czech Republic. His job is not all that demanding and leaves him much time to travel, which he reportedly does a lot of.
This might appear somewhat strange, but the leadership of North Korea – arguably the world's most isolationist country ― are not above admiring the decadent, comfortable life of the Parisian bourgeoisie. In this regard, they are not all that different from the rest of the global elite. And the present author is clearly not in a position to judge them for their indulgences.
Professor Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. You can reach him at anlankov@yahoo.com.
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